Ties to Freedom
by cookies-at-midnight
Summary: Their moments together are few and far between, but neither can go without. They improve, lighten, make bearable, simply by being."


**_Disclaimer:_** Yu-Gi-Oh is property of Kazuki Takahashi and affiliates. I own nothing, and so I'm making no profits.

**_Rating:_** PG-13

**_Warnings:_** Shounen-ai, or Yaoi if you will. Sexual innuendo.

**_A/N:_** I state here my source of inspiration for this particular fic: all hail Margaret Atwood and her brilliant work, particularly the amazing novel _The Blind Assassin_.

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**_Ties to Freedom _**

They meet clandestinely in shabby hotel rooms, in back alleys, in parks at night. Sometimes under the bridge, if it isn't occupied (the relatively secluded and private space is a favorite among love struck teenagers. Only they are hardly love struck, they have no such illusions – they don't mind each other's company and the sex is amazing).

During these secret, hurried meetings – arranged by a note dropped discreetly on a classroom desk; a wrong number late at night; a quickly whispered message as one passes the other's locker – they hardly converse at all. Sometimes, though, when they're particularly boneless with exhaustion, sated and unguarded enough to admit they've never been so content as they are now: curled up together on a dingy by-the-hour-hotel bed, or a blanket spread out over damp earth under the protective shadows of park trees – when they still have time left before one or the other of them has to be wherever they have to be, they stay exactly as they are, wrapped up tight in each other's arms as if afraid that if one were to let go, the other would simply disappear. Sometimes Jou smokes – a bad habit he's picked up from his father, though not half as bad as some of the others he hasn't. Kaiba gripes about it (of course he doesn't look at it as griping, he's much too dignified). He thinks it's a disgusting habit, and doesn't hesitate to say so.

On the rare occasion that they do strike up a conversation, it always runs much longer than is prudent or safe. They can talk for hours and hours about points that have little to no relevance. Neither one of them reads too deeply into the fact that the conversation is never dull, that one can babble on and on about nothing in particular while the other listens intently, never missing a syllable.

The days after times when they stay together long enough to be missed are generally hell. Either Jou shows up to school with fresh bruises littering his body, or Kaiba spends the entire day on his lap-top and cell phone, frantically making calls, ignoring his surroundings entirely. The teachers no longer bother to reproach him – they're hardly stupid.

And so it continues, day after day, month after month, year after year, until they're out of high-school, then university. Jou's abusive, alcoholic father eventually drinks himself to death (they find him in an alley outside a pub he patronizes regularly – the rats are having a field day). His son is finally able to pull his life together. He gets a steady job as a kitchen hand and eventually works his way up to head-chef. (_Always knew that unhealthy obsession with food of yours would have to be put to good use – it's the only talent you ever had._ Blue eyes sparkle with amusement. _If I want yer opinion I'll ask for it, asshole._ The reply is less than effective since he's practically bursting with glee.) He gets married at thirty to a nice, dull blonde, has twin girls who are the center of his universe.

Kaiba already knows what it's like to be a father. He watches his little brother grow up and settle down with his partner and their two adopted children. The first is a little baby girl from China, the next a local boy of three whose parents died in a car crash. He's a loving, attentive uncle and the children adore him, despite what you'd expect. As for marriage, he has his company.

There are still meetings, though less frequent – they both have responsibilities now. Still, everything's off. Neither of them can really picture the other in the lives they now lead. They're right, too. Doting father though he is, Jou feels stifled in this monotonous adult existence, with his perfect nuclear family. And sometimes Kaiba wishes he could bankrupt the entire company, raze his office building to the ground. But it's only an occasional, fleeting, irrational desire. Nothing more than vanishing smoke in the harsh light of day. He does genuinely enjoy his work, most of the time. He never notices (or else chooses not to acknowledge) that these out of character fits usually come upon him when there's been an unusually long length of time since their last meeting.

They dance in and out of each other's lives in this way. Their moments together are brief and, as of late, fewer and farther between, but neither can go without. They improve, lighten, make bearable, simply by being.

Fin.

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_**Notes: **_

On Jou's marriage: I've always seen Jou as bisexual as opposed to simply gay or straight. I think his wife is perfectly aware of this. It may appear as if he's hiding that aspect of himself, but I don't believe he would do this (for the intents of this fic. at least). And he does love her, in a weird sort of way. He wouldn't have married her otherwise.

On other matters: I am extremely unfamiliar with the configuration of Domino city. I basically made up all the places (most specifically the parks and the bridge). I'm sorry if anything is wildly inaccurate.

I suppose I must also apologize for the grammar. I realize you have to be an extremely famous author with about a million publications before you fuck with the basic structure of English that badly, but what can I say?

This thing is short, pointless and badly written, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading and if you could kindly leave a review it would be much appreciated. In other words: please, please, please, please review. **Pretty please**!

No, I'm not at all desperate...


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